Why Hasn't the Tenderloin Gentrified Like the Rest of San Francisco?

San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood is located downtown, bordered by some of the wealthiest neighborhoods in the city. Yet, it has a bad reputation. Tourists are told to avoid the area. You can often see drug dealing out in the open, and garbage on the streets.

"Growing up we always knew the Tenderloin's kind of a more seedy place," said this week's question asker, Vy Nguyen. She's lived in the Bay Area since she was a kid, but three years ago she moved to an apartment on the edge of the Tenderloin.

The Jefferson Hotel at 440 Eddy St. is a residential hotel managed by nonprofit Tenderloin Housing Clinic. The hotel has 108 units of affordable permanent housing for single occupants. Photo by Samantha Shanahan/KQED

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